Attending a screening yesterday of videos created by the indigenous people of Mexico, it became clear what an important role media has in the right hands. The Chiapas Media Project is a nonprofit organization created in order to provide a voice to the world about the people which directly are affected by the world's actions. From videos shot in Chiapas concerning women's empowerment, to documentaries about water accessibility (something we never question in our own comfortable and excessively used settings), to coverage of Guerrero, Mexico, which has become the largest exporter of heroin to the united states, and how their militarized state has deeply threatened the human rights of women and poor natives in general, the videos provided by the CMP has allowed a peek into a world we would never have exposure to.
The importance of this project, and other similar acts is the exposure provided to the outside world. Hearing about potential troubles withNAFTA, FTAA, and CAFTA is great for informative purposes (and when it is only through heavily filtered corporate media sources we learn less and less), but to see the actual effects and the victims of the global policies is a different situation. Through the videos of the CMP, we are offered a glimpse at the suffering and vicitimization of the indigenous peoples of Mexico, who are left in the shadows of the empire which is america and neoliberalism.
The Zapatista movement in 1994 utilized the internet, media, and technology to create a force unmatched by those without severe military power. They acted (and continue to influence others who do the same) as a model of how to create a movement which extends beyond the small towns and villages in the rural hills of Mexico. They reached out across the globe and used the tools of globalization for good, as opposed for the greedy and ruthless methods they are designed for. By using those tools against the machine which created them, it created a new alternative for those who are seldom heard, for those whose backs are stepped on to support our levels of comfort and "safety".
The Chiapas Media Project should be seen as a model for providing a voice to those who do not know they have the option of speaking out. Those who have access to this technology, which we take for granted all too often, should be using it to allow those who do not have access to tell their story, to have a voice. Empowerment of the oppressed, exposure to actual crisis, identification of issues beyond a political email alert or short corporate media blurb, this is a direction worth traveling. Even if we cannot leave our countries, or even our towns, everywhere are the poor, the victims of capitalism, those at the bottom rung of our societal ladder. Providing sources of empowerment to all people should be a goal for all of us. The priviledged life we lead comes at the cost of others. To live without recognizing those is to live blindly.
The Chiapas Media Project is "a bi-national partnership that provides tools and training so that marginalized indigenous communities can establish their own information outlets. The project provides video cameras, editing equipment, computers and appropriate training so that communities in Chiapas can tell their own stories in their own words." They can be reached at http://www.chiapasmediaproject.org
George W. Bush's 50 greatest accomplishments
1. I attacked and took over two countries.
2. I spent the US surplus and bankrupted the US treasury.
3. I shattered the record for the biggest annual deficit in history (not easy)
4. I set an economic record for the most personal bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
5. I set all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
6. I am the first president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
7. I am the first president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.
8. In my first year in office I set the all-time record for the most days on vacation by any president in US history (tough to beat my dad's, but I did).
9. After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, I presided over the worst security failure in US history.
10. I set the record for most campaign raising trips by any president in US history.
11. In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their jobs.
12. I cut unemployment benefits for more out-of-work Americans than any other president in US history.
13. I set the all-time record for most real estate foreclosures in a 12-month period.
14. I appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any other president in US history.
15. I set the record for fewest press conferences of any president since the advent of TV.
16. I presided over the biggest energy crisis in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
17. I signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any other US president in history.
18. I cut health-care benefits for war veterans.
19. I set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any one person in the history of mankind.
20. I dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
21. I've made my presidency the most secretive and unaccountable of any in US history.
22. Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history (the poorest multimillionaire, Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her).
23. I am the first president in US history to have all 50 states of the union simultaneously struggle against bankruptcy.
24. I presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud in any market in any country in the history of the world.
25. I am the first president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation, and I did so against the will of the United Nations and the vast majority of the international community.
26. I have created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the US.
27. I set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any other president in US history (Reagan was hard to beat, but I did it!!!)
28. I am the first president in US history to compel the United Nations to remove the US from the Human Rights Commission.
29. I am the first president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Elections Monitoring Board.
30. I removed more checks and balances and have the least congressional oversight of any presidential administration in US history.
31. I rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
32. I withdrew from the World Court Of Law.
33. I refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
34. I am the first president in US history to refuse United Nations elections inspectors access during the 2002 elections.
35. I am the all-time US (and world) record holder for the most corporate campaign donations.
36. The biggest lifetime contributor to my campaign, who is also one of my best friends, presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of EnronCorporation)
37. I spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
38. I am the first president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied, saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1).
39. I am the first US president to establish a secret shadow government.
40. I took the world's sympathy for the US after 9/11, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
41. I am the first US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
42. I changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
43. I set the all-time record for the number of administration appointees who violated US laws by not selling their huge investments in corporations that later made bids for gov. contracts.
44. I have removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
45. I have created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided that the US has been since the Civil War.
46. I entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.
47. I have at least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available).
48. I was AWOL from the National Guard and deserted the military during time of war. I refused to take a drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
49. All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my father's library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view. All records of any SEC investigation into my insider trading or bankrupted companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
50. All minutes of meetings of any public corporations for which I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view. Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.
A Message from Portland activist David Delk.
Hi, All.
Tillamook Creamery Association, in a surprise board meeting last week, voted
unanimously to make their dairy product free of rBGH (Bovine Growth Hormone
made by Monsanto. The safety of this drug to cows as well as humans is
highly questionable, and Canada, Australia, Japan and EU have banned it).
Monsanto, also the maker of Agent Orange, has been putting a huge pressure
on Tillamook Creamery Association to rebuke this board meeting vote.
Monsanto has sent their corporate lawyers to apply pressures on farmers, and
has succeeded in challenging this decision on the Tillamook General
Membership Meeting this coming Monday, Feb. 28th.
People at Tillamook have to hear from us NOW. The board meeting's decision
was based on consumers' comments and concern over safety of rBGH.
What we need to do: Call, write a letter or e-mail to Tillamook NOW. Tell
them that you support their board decision to go rBGH free, and (if you
agree) that it is inappropriate of Monsanto to interfere with their internal
affairs.
Tillamook County Creamery Association
DIRECT E-MAIL: info@tillamookcheese.com
PHONE: 503-842-4481
FAX: 503-842-6039
Address: Tillamook County Creamery Association
4175 Hwy 101 N
Box 313
Tillamook, OR 97141
Photograph by Alexis Christensen
provided by Kristy Hoffman
Photograph by Alexis Christensen
provided by Kristy Hoffman
